Music

Gurbani Kirtan: The Unique Role of Spiritual Song & Music in Sikhi

by CHARLES M. TOWNSEND

You
could argue that for all religious traditions which have scriptures,
their scriptures are a source of pride and point for affirming
uniqueness from other traditions.

Sikhs are proud of their scripture, just like adherents of other religious traditions, but their ennoblement of
the Adi Granth as the Guru Granth Sahib, the Living Guru, along with the
performative aspects of their relationship with the Guru Granth Sahib,
add additional dimensions to this pride.

In my interviews with a
cross-section of Sikhs, it has been common to hear both the young and
old gush with enthusiasm about the beauty of gurbani kirtan and its positive powers over one's consciousness.

SIKHS LOVE THEIR MUSIC

Kirtan is some of the most beautiful music
you'll ever hear in your life, because it puts you in that blissful
state of mind.

For Punjabis, there's a big symbol with your soul, your
heart, your hick, your inside, and the only language, the only
communication with your soul is music ... the music puts you in a
beautiful state of mind. The words themselves are saying their love for
God, and if you know those words, you have to say it like you mean it.

In addition to praising the beauty of kirtan, many of those I talked
with affirmed what they saw as the uniqueness of the Sikh
tradition's relationship with music:

"Music is a big part of Sikhism,
the Sikh tradition. It's beautiful music too. Music is everywhere, there
isn't a culture that doesn't have music, but Sikhs love their music. We
love our music ...."

COLLECTIVE COMMEMORATION

The performance of kirtan itself can be viewed as a form of continuous
self-commemoration for Sikh communities: it is the continuing collective
commemoration
of the connection and relationship between Guru Granth and Guru Panth,
the scripture as Living Guru, and the community blessed as the
performers and interpreters of gurbani.

In addition to the 'usual' cycle
of performing gurbani kirtan, gurdwara communities organise special
events which centre on the musical and oral or aural performance of
gurbani.

These events serve as a form of self-commemoration for these communities
across the Sikh diaspora; a time of celebrating the unique features of
Sikh
identity, perhaps especially as they set Sikhs and Sikh social times
apart from their local surroundings. As already mentioned, gurdwara
communities sponsor special events, bringing raagis and granthis from
Punjab to perform kirtan ...

Several of those who answered my questions spoke of the necessity for
young Sikhs to continue to learn Punjabi/ Gurmukhi, and to be able to
play kirtan and recite gurbani. Many spoke of the continued ability
among young Sikhs to perform gurbani kirtan as being integral for
maintaining Sikh identity.

"Hearing kirtan, you're glad to hear it,
you're glad someone's singing it, because it's keeping the faith
alive ... If I hear a man singing kirtan I'm like, 'Yeah man, keep the
faith alive', simple as that. Because through music, through song, is how
Sikhs, everyone of them has kept their histories alive ...

"I think
for the community as a whole, kirtan is totally necessary to be able to
recognise the Sikh faith as a collective group. I think that it's really
important for Sikhism to continue - for it to really live as long as it
should. I think we really need kirtan. We need people to go to
groupware regularly.

"It's very important to listen to kirtan,
and to encourage others to listen to it. It's extremely important for
the younger generation of Sikhs to learn the roots of our Sikh identity
and to be able to maintain it and eventually pass it on."

With
my interviewees affirming the centrality of gurbani kirtan in their
religious practice, it is perhaps unsurprising that many also see the
continuance of this religio-cultural performance as vital to the
continued transmission of Sikhism to new generations. If such central
practices of a religion and markers of distinctions from the 'host
culture' are forgotten, the religio-cultural group 'in the diaspora' could
be 'homogenised' or 'assimilated' and cease to be 'in the diaspora'.

The
desire to resist such 'assimilation' and loss of religio-cultural
continuity and uniqueness was voiced by some of my Sikh interlocutors,
who framed it as their 'duty' to make sure that performance of gurbani
kirtan continued on to subsequent generations. Others spoke of their
'duty' to listen.

KEEPING THE FAITH ALIVE

"When a man sings kirtan, it goes back in my head, it goes in my
friends' heads, it's keeping the faith alive and out of respect you sit
there and you hear them out, it's almost your duty as a Sikh ... you stop
and listen ..."

Among the Sikhs I have spoken to, kirtan is
seen as an important locus for identity transmission. This stands to
reason if one accepts the centrality of gurbani kirtan and the musical
and oral/aural dimension which is apparent within these communities.
Without members of the community continuing the performance of gurbani
kirtan, the practices and ethos of the community could change greatly.

The author, a Ph.D. student in Sikh Studies, University of
California, is researching the role of Gurbani Kirtan in the process of
identity formation among Sikhs in America .

Charles Townsend is my doctoral student who is deeply involved in understanding the role of Gurbani Kirtan in preserving Sikh identity in the diaspora. In the summer he visited the Darbar Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, and many other places in India. He interviewed top Sikh musicians as part of his field work. He is indeed a promising young scholar.

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